Men's Basketball Weekend Preview: "Game of Change" Reunion Highlights Busy Saturday

Horizon League Men's Basketball Weekly Release (Dec. 14, 2012)

Men's Basketball Weekend Schedule [All times Eastern]
Saturday, Dec. 15
Akron at Detroit                                               12 p.m., HLN, FS Detroit
Cleveland State at St. Bonaventure            2 p.m.
Wright State at Hofstra                                  2 p.m.
Eastern Michigan at UIC                               2 p.m., HLN
Southern Illinois at Green Bay                     8 p.m.
Tennessee Tech at Milwaukee                   8 p.m., HLN
Mississippi State at Loyola                          8 p.m., ESPN3 (11 p.m., ESPNU)
Valparaiso at Missouri State                        8:05 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Horizon League will have eight of its nine men's basketball teams in action on Saturday, but perhaps no game is more significant this weekend than the long-awaited reunion of Mississippi State and Loyola.

As the Ramblers celebrate the 50th anniversary of their underdog run to an NCAA Championship -- still the only tournament title from the state of Illinois -- the schedule has been laid out in such a way to commemorate important events from that 1962-63 season.

For example: earlier this season, the Ramblers hosted Tennessee Tech, their first-round opponent during the 1963 NCAA Tournament. Loyola also played in East Lansing, putting up a valiant effort against Michigan State before suffering a 12-point loss. After the game, Loyola went to Jenison Fieldhouse, where a marker tells visitors the story of the "Game of Change."

Fifty years ago, though, the Spartans were not Loyola's opponent in East Lansing. That distinction goes to Mississippi State, and that's why the story still holds so much significance.

In 1960s Mississippi, there was an unwritten rule for college basketball teams: don't play against teams featuring black players. Though unwritten, the rule was strictly enforced. For this reason, Mississippi State sat out three NCAA Tournaments despite having won that year's SEC title.

But not in 1963.

Long story short, the Mississippi State team snuck across the state border to play against Loyola, a squad that started four black players. At the matchup in East Lansing, there was no rioting and the Ramblers picked up a 10-point win on the their way to a National Title. The game has been credited with not only changing the culture of sports, but of jump-starting the entire Civil Rights movement. Just a few weeks later, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., composed his famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail.

Incredibly, this weekend will be the first time the two teams have faced off since that historical matchup.

The reunion -- and it's backstory -- have been featured in stirring detail by news outlets across the country, including the Chicago Sun-Times, the Clarion (Mississippi) Ledger, the Detroit Free Press, FOX Sports Detroit, Indianapolis Business Journal, ESPN.com, NCAA.com and The Sporting News, which named the "Game of Change" its No. 1 moment in the history of the NCAA Tournament. For a personal account of the story, check out HLN reporter Kyle Binder's interview of Jerry Harkness, a star guard for the Loyola championship team who went on to play in the NBA with the New York Knicks and in the ABA with the Indiana Pacers.

Sometimes in sports, the stars align to help create a better story. Fifty years ago, the Ramblers took the country by surprise by winning an NCAA Championship. This year -- coming off a 23-loss season -- Loyola is off to a 6-3 start and sits in a four-way tie for second-place in the Horizon League.

Head coach Porter Moser doesn't think his team's hot start makes the anniversary celebration any more significant, however.

"I think the significance is more to remember and honor those guys," Moser said. "I don’t think it’s based on how we do, it think you want to honor the accomplishment they did and the people they are. Those guys – I’ve gotten to know a lot of them, and they’re phenomenal guys. They had a huge amount of success in life. They had 15 college degrees from that team."

Saturday's reunion will be held in primetime and broadcast nationally on ESPNU at 11 p.m. ET. The live broadcast will be at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN3

In other Horizon League action on Saturday, Detroit hosts Akron in the early game, tipping at noon on HLN and FOX Sports Detroit. The Titans may be 0-4 on the road this season but they own a 13-game home winning streak after Monday's win over Alabama State.

UIC hosts Eastern Michigan on HLN at 2 p.m. The Flames are looking to improve to 9-1 this season under third-year head coach Howard Moore, whose early career change was featured by Yahoo! Sports reporter Jeff Eisenberg.

Also at 2 p.m., Wright State travels to Hofstra while Cleveland State travels to St. Bonaventure. The Vikings are without star guard Anton Grady, who this week underwent surgery to repair a torn MCL.

In primetime matchups, Milwaukee hosts Tennessee Tech on HLN at 8 p.m. and Green Bay hosts Southern Illinois, looking to rebound quickly from a single-digit loss to Wisconsin on Wednesday night.

Five minutes later, Valparaiso tips off against Missouri State. The Crusaders are still in search of a signature win after falling on the road to New Mexico, but are led by defending Horizon League Player of the Week Ryan Broekhoff, who won the honor for the second time this season.